referendum on the president. he's successful about bain capital. why won't he release his taxes. now you have a choice. it seems like beginning today we'll start debating bigger issues, voters have bigger choices. >> hold on a second. i want to set the scene. jim acosta is on the phone for us. jim, the "uss wisconsin" is in norfo norfolk, the largest naval facility in the world. tell us what you can expect in two hours. >> i think what you expect is romney campaign pulling out the big guns and i'm not just talking about the "uss wisconsin." we're talking about paul ryan, we haven't seen signs yet, wolf. i should mention. i've been on the event site. we've not seen paul ryan signs at the event site at this point. i'm standing in line to go through security to get into this event site. i don't know if you want to call

it a glitch, but 7:00 a.m. when most major television networks want to be on the air reporting this news, all of the networks are honie phoning in, we're phoning in this report as opposed to being live on the air, showing that battleship behind us, showing that impressive back drop behind us, we're all sort of standing in line getting ready to go inside this site. it shows the last-minute nature what the romney campaign has done by alerting everybody late last night. putting out this press release very late last night. this is a herculean effort pulling this off, not just with the news media, but the campaign, secret service, everybody involved. >> i want to be precise. you haven't seen signage yet, romney-ryan, all of us are familiar with obama-biden, no signs in nor folk where you are, is that right? >> that's right. at 6:00 this morning, i was able -- the romney campaign and secret service were kind enough

to escort us into the site. we were able to go live at that point, scan the entire scene. romney people were there. there were no paul-romney signs on the site at that point. whether they are at kinkos right now printing up those signs. we can't tell you if they're in the back of the bus that's parked on the site, perhaps that's the case. and let be clear here. the romney campaign has not officially put out a press release saying paul ryan is our vice presidential pick. remember the mitt vpapp everybody downloaded on smart phones. that app has not been activated. we've not gotten any notification that paul ryan is the pick. aat this point, paul ryan has not been announced yet, at least not just yet. >> if you go online to the romney-ryan website. there you see it right now. they haven't announced it yet on the romney website. clearly type in romney-ryan and

you'll go right to the romney campaign website. gloria, you've sent spent a lot of time with paul ryan in recent years. you did a great series on this 42-year-old republican house budget committee chairman. he's very, very popular with republicans, very intelligent, knows these issues. a student of the late jack kemp. we know a lot about him even though he's relatively young, 42 years old. >> paul ryan became popular with republicans by pushing unpopular things. they didn't always like him at first. he was the guy who wanted to take away their earmarks. he's the guy that wanted to touch what's known as third rail of american politics, social security and medicare. he had a very hard time convincing them that they ought to follow him, and then you had this new class -- >> i'm sorry to interrupt you, the app told us officially, mitt's choice for vp is paul ryan, spread the word about the comeback team. >> it's official.

put it up on the screen, put it in front of you. we'll show our viewers if you go to the mitt romney campaign app, you see it's official. read it to our viewers. >> mitt's vp, mitt's choice for vp is paul ryan. spread the word about the comeback team, romney-ryan. >> we don't need to speculate anymore. >> unless somebody hacked into the app. >> i don't think that's the case. >> i think it's a bold choice but a really risky choice. one democrats are looking to fighting. suddenly they have new terrain. not only did mitt romney endorse paul ryan's budget but it now becomes his budget. when you have the state of florida, for example, very important to this race, a lot of senior citizens there, no matter how much paul ryan says, this doesn't affect you if you're currently 55 or hoolder. this will still become an issue,

do you want to voucherize medicare, do you want to change the way we determine the retirement age of social security. these are questions that need to be addressed. but will it take mitt romney off his it's the economy, it's the economy, or can they weave it into an argument that the american people will listen to? >> it's official. the romney campaign announced paul ryan will be the vice presidential running mate. a lot of democrats are excited. they think this is great news for them. they've been falsely excited in the past on other campaigns. are they legitimately -- do they really have a legitimate source of glee right now that paul ryan is the running mate? >> they think they do. ask me november 7th. i'll let you know whether they're right or not. listen, it's not just about the top of the ticket here. i'm hearing from democrats particularly on the house side going, yippee. big, big help down ticket.

we don't have to explain the ryan plan. we just say see that guy, our opposition voted with him. you see this sort of emerging -- they have to bring up the ryan plan. now it has so much more potency, because he's on the top of the ticket. democrats think this is great for them. you know, always be careful what you ask for. do the person people want to have this debate. i also think what it tells you about the romney campaign. where do we start out. mitt romney started out saying this election is about the obama economy. president obama started out saying, this election is about a choice. now, i actually think. you see romney saying, yeah, it is. game on. i think this is a very game on kind of choice. let's -- i mean, kind of pick for romney. >> i just want to play a little clip. candy, you had a chance on april 1st to speak, interview paul ryan. we've got a little clip of that. i want our viewers to hear it. let's listen. >> usually, the number two on

the ticket helps balance out the number one. it sort of fills in the gaps. what kind of number two do you think mitt romney needs. what does he need balancing out for? or of. >> whatever he thinks helps him win the fall and helps him govern. >> what do you think helps him win the fall? >> i don't know if it's the geography thing. there's a lot of conventional wisdom. what i think matters is, is he putting together the right kind of team to take the right kind of referendum in the drawn to offer the country a choice of two future, is he getting somebody ready for the job who can help him govern and deliver on the reforms which he campaign on in the fall. i have no clue what that will be. what kind of person, where they are coming from. i don't see the point of speculating on that. i have a job to do as budget chairman as wisconsin representative, i'm focused on that. let's get this primary taken care of. and then everybody can wear and

spoke late about the rest of it. >> would you, for instance, go for someone who is seen as a little more working class? we know when president obama was a candidate, and he was selecting a number two, they felt that there was a certain kind of, he seemed a bit reeverybody monthed from people and they wanted someone who really spoke to blue collar workers. does mitt romney need that as well in a number two? >> you know, i'm really not the political pundit type, candy. i'm very much a policy person. focused on doing my job. it's not my forte to get into that speculation. i'm busy doing my job and right now moye job is trying to prevent a debt crisis from sinking our economy and destroying our children's future. honestly, that's what i'm focused on. >> candy, do you want to weigh in? >> it also brings up, i think listening to that, another risk is an optics risk. the fact is, this guy hasn't been tested statewide much less

nationwide as a campaigner. he's a wonk. >> you see the "uss wisconsin" right now. that's a live picture from norfolk, virginia. the largest naval port in the world. we're going to be going there in less than two hours when mitt romney makes this formal announcement. the romney campaign already announced that officially, paul ryan, paul ryan will be the vice presidential running mate. we'll take a quick break. when we come back we'll start getting democratic reaction to this dramatic announce. romney-ryan. what's going on? stay with us. [ male announcer ] nature valley sweet & salty nut bars. ♪ [ camera clicks ] ♪ it's hard to resist the craveable nature of a nature valley sweet & salty nut bar.

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all right. it's official. the romney campaign put it out on their app, the romney campaign announcing that paul ryan, the republican congressman for wisconsin, 42 years old. chairman of the house budget committee will be the vice presidential running mate to mitt romney. it will be romney-ryan. that's the republican ticket. official announcement coming only seconds aago on the app. you saw john king put it up on the screen as soon as it came out. no more sources necessary. this is an official announcement from the romney campaign. that's a done deal right now. there you see it. see it on the ipad as well.

john acosta is aboard the "uss wisconsin" the old battleship. set the scene for us now, jim. >> wolf i'm not exactly on board the "uss wisconsin" just standing maybe 30 yards from it. and, yes, you can see the "uss wisconsin" behind me right now. you can say they're bringing out the big guns this morning. that battleship here positioned in norfolk almost perfectly as if the romney campaign parked it there themselves. the romney flag is up. romney bus is in the background there. what i can tell you from a messaging stand point on the romney bus, this is a new wrap on that bus that we haven't seen in recent weeks. it says more jobs, more take-home pay. getting back to that message on the economy. that message aimed at the middle class is what the romney campaign will be delivering over

the next several days for the bus tour. as we were talking a few momenting ago, to go to the hurry up and wait nature of this announcement. no paul ryan signs on the site. we've been scouring the scene, looking for any sign of a paul ryan sign of sorts, even saw romney advance people. they had their lead advance people like they had top ads advisers coming in. saul one of the people with a sign up to the chest. i said hey, charlie, flip the sign around. give us a sense what you have. it was just a mitt romney sign. perhaps they're bringing those in as we speak. as we said, it is official. the mitt vpapp did activate, finally even though much of the political world knew this last night, at least through sources that app did go off activating and letting everybody know mitt romney officially announced that paul ryan will be his running mate.

all of this will be started in a couple of hours from now. wolf, they will be getting on the bus and getting across the state of virginia. i think even though this event was not being planned and set up in wisconsin, paul ryan's home state. virginia is a very important battleground state. so, to have this event here in virginia. i think lays down a pretty big marker for the romney campaign that they've come to really go after the obama campaign on a state where president obama won last time around. they want this state badly. you can tell by what they're putting out here today. >> do you know when they decided to do this event in norfolk, near the "uss wisconsin," obviously paul ryan being from the state of wisconsin. is there a very cute gesture, obviously, to me it suggests that if it's been in the works for days now, that romney made his decision to select paul ryan days ago. that's why they picked the "uss wisconsin" as a venue.

>> i think that's a very safe bet. wolf. i think this has been in the works for several days. i think when they realized that the "uss wisconsin" here, they had the perfect backdrop for this event. the fact this e-mail went out at 11:00, i glev there was a tweet from the communications directioner from the campaign roughly around that same time. this is a very last-minute notification to the national news media. we can drop everything and show up. that's not a big deal. i will tell you, though, this, you know, not giving everybody sort of a lead notice in all of this. did create chaos coming in. we were not able to go live here, right at the top because of that. and, you know, this is sort of a -- i don't want to say a thrown-together sort of event here, wolf, but it is certainly one that is catching a lot of people by surprise. the romney campaign did not tip its hand, needless to say.

the "uss wisconsin" we got that notification, that this is where the event was. oh, it's "uss wisconsin" that's a big hint. the fact they're doing this saturday morning when the olympics still going on. huge surprise. >> stand by, john king is getting an official announcement from the romney campaign. >> it's impressive. you can see the romney letterhead on top. there's not a quote from governor romney in this. we'll wait to hear from the governor himself. not even from paul ryan, it does say mitt romney announced wiscons wiscons wisconsin conman paul ryan. it's interesting what they decided to put on the first bio. they note, chairman of the house budget committee, where he has worked tirelessly, increasing accountability to tax payers,

you'll hear a lot about that. talking about simplifying the tax code. you'll hear a lot of about that. then the fifth generation wisconsin native. dad an attorney, his mom, stay at home mom. he talks about how he proposed to his wife in april. she's from oklahoma. and everybody knows he likes to be outdoors and is a member of the local archery association. >> he actually shoots elk with a bow and arrow. so you know. >> the press release, candy is showing to be on her ipad. mitt romney and paul ryan, america's comeback team. everybody stand by for a moment. james carville, democratic strategist will join us, we'll start to get democratic reaction from the dramatic announcement. it's romney-ryan. what does james have to say about it? you're about to find out. we're here at walmart with anita and her two daughters.

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it's official. the romney campaign made it official. paul ryan will beet running made. won't be marco rubio, chris christie, bob portman, let's get the unofficial democratic reaction. james carville is joining us right now.

what do you think of this ticket, james? >> well, it's going to be very interesting. i think from the democratic perspective, certainly going talk how they are both sons of privilege. ryan is from a wealthy family as is romney. neither have foreign policy experience to speak of. which is unusual. republicans have made this part and parcel of their strategies, going to come into play. democrats ask how much will romney's tax returns -- we don't get to see romney's tax returns. there's already a website that has, i think like a 2,000 page briefing book on paul ryan up already. it's going to be an interesting choice. and to hold ryan budget, his tax plan is simply to governor romney's, neither one tell us how they will pay for it. tax expenditures that they will

close. it will be very interesting, it does change the tenor of the race and to that extent, it's good, in the short term for governor romney. long term, i don't know. still a big debate here. >> it's interesting, james. yesterday, we spoke, i asked you who you thought romney should pick, you picked your fellow son of louisiana, the governor, bobby jindal. you felt he would be a good running mate. that didn't happen. paul ryan, debating joe biden in october in that one vice presidential debate. it's going to be tough. it's going to be fierce. both guys, very, very smart. it will be lively. >> it will be lively, historically, the republican party, the ryan budget voted on by the whole house, now that paul ryan has been picked. this will be -- i'm sure it will be in a platform. this is sort of now part of the republican party as we go forward.

ryan, to give, you know, to say something nice about the guy on the day he's been picked. he's very good at promoting it, and i think romney felt like he's got to get out of this and change the topic. yeah. he succeeded in doing that. i'm not sure, we've done a lot of research on the ryan budget. i don't think people in the end like it very much. but it will get debated. it will get aired out. and we'll see. democrats, a lot of budget analysts said that ryan budget actually increases, it's not about deficit reduction, it's a change in philosophy what government does. i think that's an important distinction to be made. >> hold on. we'll get republican reaction. our own contributor, aree fleischer, will be joining us. you've been following this so closely. and paul ryan is no stranger to you. >> he's no stranger to me.

i've been communicating to people in the campaign to find out their reaction. to james' point about the ryan budget. someone close to the campaign trail said to me, we were going to own ryan's policies anyway. and now we have the best defender of them, which is paul ryan himself. of course, the budget was voted on virtually unanimously by house republicans. mitt romney has endorsed it. now they have paul ryan out there defending it. what you'll have is a discussion about entitlement reform as the baby boomers heading into that big area of retirement. and, you know, by the way, this could turn out to be a very risky choice that could actually hurt mitt romney, now the focus will turn prooit right back to mitt romney and paul ryan, rather than on barack obama's economy. but, again, bold. maybe too risky, but bold.

>> you cannot make a direct comparison to 2010, wolf, which is a big republican year. the president's health care plan is at issue. there's other issues at play. the democratic counter argument in the house and senate, let republicans take control the congress, that guy paul ryan will run it. they will slash medicare and do these horrible things. that's a democratic argument. you have to count that in. senior citizens, 55 and older, 65% voted republican. the next group. paul ryan would not touch medicare who is in it or close to it. 45 to 64, republicans won 53% to 45 personally in house races. the democrats tried this. again it's not apples and apples. but they did raise this argument and said if you elect these guys you'll get that budget plan and they lost the argument. other issues were in play.

>> wasn't this an anti-health care vote too? >> there were other factors in year. it was pro republican year, antiobama year. they've seen that come at them. that's their counter argument. >> i want to take a quick break but go ahead. >> the idea we were going to own it anyway, they weren't going own it closely. >> didn't have to be a fight about motion security and now it is. >> it is different. they have, as i say, a bring it on choice for mitt romney. >> i guarantee in the fall. we haven't heard it from president obama. their feeling right or wrong is -- now we -- >> romney-ryan, we'll take another quick break. we'll show you pictures you've never seen before. vice presidential running mate, you're look at